Rare joint interview with Texans Scott Pelley and Bob Schieffer

Splice together the careers of CBS newsmen Bob Schieffer and Scott Pelley, and the continuum runs from the Kennedy assassination through Watergate, Iran-Contra, the Clinton impeachment, two Gulf wars to the present day. In an era when TV news is often about show business instead of journalism, Schieffer and Pelley have thrived using reporters’ skills they honed in Texas — Schieffer at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and Pelley at KXAS-TV (Channel 5) in Fort Worth and WFAA-TV (Channel 8) in Dallas.

Younger by two decades, Pelley followed Schieffer’s road to the top of the pyramid: the anchor chair at CBS.

On Wednesday, in perhaps the ultimate compliment to his predecessor, Pelley brought the entire CBS Evening News program to Fort Worth and broadcast his show live from the Schieffer School of Communications at the older man’s alma mater, Texas Christian University.

On familiar sod, Schieffer and Pelley sat for a rare joint interview that ranged from their briefest presidential audience ever (Schieffer and Nixon — one question), to the Clinton impeachment, to the viability of professional journalism in the digital age.

Across the hall, banks of flat-screens glowed with the CBS News logo, TelePrompTers were loaded and producers waited for Pelley to give a special afternoon report on President Barack Obama’s visit to Fort Hood.

“We absolutely wanted to be here, especially for the 10th anniversary,” Pelley said. “And the only way for me to be here was to bring the Evening News here as well. It seems to follow me wherever I go.”

“There will be more people focused on TCU tonight than at any time since the Rose Bowl,” Schieffer said.

In a medium that punishes age, the 77-year-old Schieffer is in his 23rd year as the moderator of Face the Nation. The Sunday morning show can’t match the ratings of the CBSEvening News, but it remains a marquee product that often sets the conversational agenda for the coming week in D.C.

“And it’s the No. 1 public affairs program in America,” Pelley said.

CBS’ Texas dynasty

With the exception of the Katie Couric interregnum, the CBS Evening News has been anchored by a Texan since Walter Cronkite took over in 1962. His heirs, Dan Rather, Schieffer and Pelley, each served stints as CBS White House correspondents before moving to the big chair.

“It’s something in the DNA,” says Schieffer. “There are Texans all across the news landscape. [Jim] Lehrer always says that people from Texas are smarter, but I’m not sure that’s true.”

Despite accusations to the contrary, the CBS Texans were not all the products of elegant educations. Cronkite went to the University of Texas, and Rather attended Sam Houston State in Huntsville. Pelley is an alumnus of Texas Tech. Schieffer still smiles at Vice President Spiro Agnew’s rants against the Ivy Leaguers who controlled network news. Looking out the window of TCU’s Moudy South building, Schieffer said, “There’s not much ivy growing on the walls around here.”

“He may have been confused by the fact that Texas Tech is well-known as the Harvard of Lubbock County,” Pelley joked.

During the Nixon administration, Schieffer was junior to Rather, CBS’ firebrand White House correspondent. Schieffer’s streak of interviewing every president began after a Sunday church service in the East Room when UPI’s Helen Thomas goaded him to approach Nixon to ask about new advisers the president was bringing aboard. “Will these be in-house advisers?” Schieffer asked.

“Oh, no, no, no,” Nixon said. “These are outhouse advisers.”

“It’s still the most memorable presidential interview I conducted,” Schieffer says.

Ford’s better idea

When Nixon resigned, Rather left the White House, too, and Schieffer moved up to cover Gerald Ford, who shocked the nation with a swift pardon of Nixon.

“I was absolutely furious,” Schieffer said. “I wanted to put him in jail.”

More than 20 years later, Pelley was the CBS White House correspondent when Bill Clinton declared, “I did not have sexual relations with that woman.” Pelley stayed through the congressional impeachment and the Senate trial. On Face the Nation, Schieffer’s guests debated Clinton’s transgressions week after week, and Schieffer began to reconsider his harsh judgment of Ford.

“I came to understand what a right decision it was. I think Ford was very wise to do what he did. It took me some years to come to that.”

‘Get it right’

Despite the prestige of their jobs, Pelley at CBS, Brian Williams at NBC and Diane Sawyer at ABC are fighting the same battle: Roughly half as many Americans watch the 5:30 p.m. newscasts as did in Cronkite’s day. Today, when Pelley goes live, many — if not most — viewers already know the news he will report.

“Folks go through their day catching things on their phone and on their computer and on their laptops,” Pelley said. “At the end of the day, they begin to wonder how much of what they heard and read is right. What they know when they go to a brand name like CBS News is that there are a lot of serious journalists and editors there who are working their darnedest to get it right. What we offer is an opportunity to get the news, get it right and get it in a concise package.”

“I don’t agree with people who say that journalism is dying,” Schieffer added. “It’s changing. How we communicate in every way is changing. You can’t have a democracy unless citizens have access to independently gathered information that they can compare to the government’s version of events. I think there’s always going to be a need for trained reporters.

“It’s not whether you get the news printed on a piece of paper or if you get it on your wristwatch. Society generally finds a way to get what it needs.”

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About Alan Peppard

MOST UNFORGETTABLE EXPERIENCE ON THE JOB: Reintroducing myself to President George W. Bush after not seeing him for several years and having him reply, "Alan, you don't ever have to tell me who you are."

SOMETHING PEOPLE DON'T KNOW ABOUT ME: I have gills and webbed fingers and toes. I can talk to fish. I'm AquaMan!

IF I HAD TWO SPARE HOURS, I WOULD: Take a walk with my daughters.

I'M ALWAYS ENTERTAINED BY: "The Simpsons," four-part harmony and e-mails from the widow of Nigeria's minister of petroleum.

Hometown: Dallas, TX

Education: Greenhill School/SMU (political science major). I wanted to go to law school, but law school didn't want me. So I became a writer, first for D magazine and then for The Dallas Morning News.